As president of Peraton’s Global Health and Financial Solutions sector, Tarik Reyes supports some of the most critical missions in government.
Whether it’s the Department of Veterans Affairs or the Federal Reserve, health care and finance agencies need to extract meaning from vast tracts of disaggregated data, “and they need the ability to do that at a pace that enables them to make decisions quickly,” he said.
In health care, “you’re dealing with a wide range of constituents, and you’re facing extremely complex problems, whether that’s the next pandemic or some other public health issue,” he said.
One of the mainstays of national security is the nation’s financial infrastructure, Reyes said.
“For our customers ⏤ whether that’s the Department of Treasury, Federal Reserve, FDIC, SEC ⏤ they all need to ensure that the financial security of our nation is reliable and predictable,” he added. “They need to mitigate risk and regulate the financial requirements that we lean on.”
In support of these high-value missions ⏤ or “missions of consequence” as Peraton refers to them ⏤ the company brings to the table a range of capabilities to provide agencies with desired outcomes, including agile software development, low-code/no-code solutions and data analytics. These are all delivered in a secure and resilient environment, no matter whether in a private or public cloud.
But Reyes’ emphasis is less on the tools, and more on how they are implemented.
“We solve the problem by understanding our customers’ missions and the results they need to achieve better than our competitors,” he said. “That’s the baseline of how we approach our customers.”
What does that mean in practice?
“It’s about understanding what’s driving a particular requirement, what the specific need is in the health or financial space,” he said. “We seek first to completely understand the objectives and the problems, before we propose any solution.”
This approach includes taking a deep dive into the nuances of a particular agency, looking at the operational rhythm and organizational complexity.
As Reyes continues to bring that value proposition to government, he sees ample opportunity for growth. Peraton succeeds, he said, when it helps government overcome its most challenging obstacles.
“We’re not in the commodity space,” he said. For example, in the search for health care business opportunities, “our growth is based on providing higher levels of care at a best-value price.”
That formula seems to be working, as Peraton has experienced rapid and steady growth over the last two years. Reyes attributes the momentum to the company’s unique history and culture.
“Peraton came together out of several highly successful heritage organizations that had a tremendous amount of capability,” he said. “These companies were powerhouses in their own right: We took all-star players and created an all-star team.”
Once the team was assembled, “we hit that market very quickly, and we began to grow and win more than our fair share of business,” he said. “The magic was in getting everyone to operate as one team as soon as we hit the market, and the result included a number of large marquee wins in the health and financial space.”
Those early wins have helped set the pace for future growth, yet Reyes still faces the same challenges as do many others in the GovCon space, especially in finding and keeping the best people.
“Along with our clients and our competitors, we’re all fighting hard to attract and retain the best employees,” he said.
To keep ahead, Peraton focuses on building a positive corporate culture, and on giving skilled people meaningful opportunities in their daily work along with support in developing their career paths.
“We are creating an environment that provides people with a chance to grow ⏤ a chance to develop new capabilities and build their talents,” Reyes said.
The company’s growing portfolio of projects helps to make that possible.
“With these wins, we have a multitude of programs where they can tackle new challenges,” he added. “People have a lot of choices, and we want to give them a place to work that they can feel proud of, where they can help solve interesting problems.”
Those opportunities extend beyond just health and financial agencies. As Reyes noted, Peraton also has a big presence in the defense, space and intelligence markets, as well as in citizen services and cyber. This wide breadth of projects offers added opportunity for growth and helps recruit and retain top talent.
A 30-year veteran of the GovCon space, Reyes said he draws motivation from watching his team come together and perform in outstanding ways.
“We’ve built one of the strongest and hardest-working teams in the industry,” he said. “Their passion, their perseverance, their focus delivering to meet the customer’s mission, is just incredible. I’m around really creative, collaborative, intelligent, and hardworking people. That’s really the most satisfying thing about this work.”